[Excerpt] Can global solidarity really help unions with their organizing efforts?
Only if we stop thinking about international solidarity as  charity  work for the  developing  world. Only if we recognize the limitations of isolated local union struggles against international corporations and financial institutions. Only if we build international union structures to support efforts in organizing more workers and bargaining collective agreements

Sanchez, D. Catherine

English

[Excerpt] Can global solidarity really help unions with their organizing efforts?  Only if we stop thinking about international solidarity as "charity" work for the "developing" world. Only if we recognize the limitations of isolated local union struggles against international corporations and financial institutions. Only if we build international union structures to support efforts in organizing more workers and bargaining collective agreements.Issue_23_____Article_6.pdf: 395 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

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LRR Focus: Solidarity NOT Charity

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Labor Research Review 
Volume 1 | Number 23 
Confronting Global Power: Union Strategies for 
the World Economy 
Article 6 
1995 
LRR Focus: Solidarity NOT Charity 
D. Catherine Sanchez 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been accepted for inclusion 
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© 1995 by Labor Research Review 
LRR Focus: Solidarity NOT Charity 
Abstract 
[Excerpt] Can global solidarity really help unions with their organizing efforts? 
Only if we stop thinking about international solidarity as "charity" work for the "developing" world. Only if 
we recognize the limitations of isolated local union struggles against international corporations and 
financial institutions. Only if we build international union structures to support efforts in organizing more 
workers and bargaining collective agreements. 
Keywords 
international solidarity, union organizing, global solidarity, trade unions, globalization 
This article is available in Labor Research Review: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/lrr/vol1/iss23/6 
LRR FOCUS: Solidarity NOT Charity 
Can global solidarity really help unions with their organizing efforts? 
Only if we stop thinking about international solidarity as "charity" work for 
the "developing" world. Only if we recognize the limitations of isolated local 
union struggles against international corporations and financial institutions. 
Only if we build international union structures to support efforts in organizing 
more workers and bargaining collective agreements. 
The International Trade Union Secretariats (ITSs) are global union structures 
that provide worldwide campaign capacity to their union members. Many unions 
throughout the world, including those in the United States, have affiliated with 
these global structures in order to extend their capacity to organize and bar-
gain, especially against subsidiaries of transnational corporations (TNCs). 
Solidarity between trade unions is not new to labor movements around the 
world. But the complexities and challenges facing trade unions today are new 
and have forced unions everywhere to step up strategies to strengthen the posi-
tion of trade unions at national and international levels. In the long run, only 
mutual and reciprocal efforts can build a solid base for the future. 
Not every effort to mobilize international labor support ends in winning an 
organizing drive or achieving a better contract, but every effort is a step forward 
in developing our capacities for fresh strategies and tactics in organizing. 
SOUTH TO NORTH SOLIDARITY... 
ORGANIZING BANKS IN THE UNITED STATES 
In an era of declining union representation, the United Food and Commer-
cial Workers International Union's (UFCW) highly innovative and aggressive 
organizing tactics have actually increased its membership. The UFCW, affiliated 
with the International Federation of Commercial Clerical and Technical Employ-
ees (FIET), recently demonstrated the effectiveness of international solidarity and 
how it can help unions organize hard-to-organize sectors. As part of its on-
going effort to organize the banking sector, the UFCW developed a strategy to 
target Brazilian-owned banks in the United States. 
Why Brazilian Banks? 
The UFCW in the United States and the Confederacao Nacional Bancaria 
(CNB CUT), the union representing the National Bank workers in Brazil, have 
been establishing close ties for several years. When the UFCW asked their Brazil-
ian counterparts for help in organizing those people working for Brazilian banks 
in the United States, they heeded the request. These unions' recent joint effort 
is a single "fruit" borne of a long-cultivated relationship. 
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U.S. Banks have always pursued aggressive anti-union labor tactics, includ-
ing direct threats and intimidation of employees. These tactics have been suc-
cessful in keeping most of the banking and financial sector unorganized. Of the 
2 million workers in this sector, only 15,000 are unionized, and 10,000 of those 
are UFCW members. In remarkable contrast to the low rate of unionization in 
the banking sector in North America, nearly 400,000 or 80 percent of the bank 
workers throughout Brazil are members of CNB-CUT. 
With the help of the CNB-CUT, UFCW representatives met in Brazil with the 
labor relations directors of five major Brazilian Banks with branches in North 
America. The Brazilian directors agreed to allow UFCW organizers unrestricted 
access to banks in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and 
promised that bank management would remain neutral during the UFCW's 
organizing drive. 
Despite the neutrality agreement reached in Brazil, the branch management 
steadfastly refused to grant organizers access to their premises, and the Brazil-
ian managers refused to intervene. In response, the UFCW asked Luiz Inacio 
Lula da Silva (known as Lula), president of the Brazil Workers Parly (PT) and a 
leader of CUT, to meet with managers of Brazilian Banks in New York, 
Lula was happy to offer his assistance, but the U.S. bank managers were not 
so cooperative. When the banks refused the request to meet with Lula, the UFCW 
convened a press conference. Lula stated that the banks' refusal to abide by the 
neutrality agreement was an issue of freedom of association, and that it should 
be the right of workers to decide whether or not to unionize. 
While managers in the United States were unmoved by Lula's words, his sup-
port and that of CNB-CUT helped raise the awareness of the need to organize 
bank workers in the United States. It also solidified the bond between the two 
labor unions - a bond that is sure to be valuable as efforts to organize the bank-
ing sector in the United States continue. 
SOME RECENT SUCCESS STORIES 
Other U.S. unions, such as the Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers 
(BCT), and the United Farm workers (UFW) have recently reaped success from 
their international campaigns. The BCT is a very active affiliate of the Interna-
tional Union of Food Workers (IUF) whose sectors include beverages, tobacco, 
hotel and restaurants, and agriculture. Because the BCT builds an international 
component into most of its organizing and bargaining campaigns, the union is 
at the same time actively developing its international capacity in a systematic 
way. BCT sends delegates to company-based union meetings in Europe and widely 
shares its expertise on negotiations over the introduction of new technologies. 
As a result, other IUF affiliate unions are quick to support BCT. And with this 
support BCT has been able to: 
» Win a first contract at Mederer, a German-owned confectionery plant in 
Iowa 
• Persuade the Finnish-owned transnational Huhtamaki to cooperate in the 
sale of Clark Candy in Pittsburgh to a buyer that would keep the factory 
open 
« Successfully fight a particularly vicious anti-union campaign waged by the 
British-based United Biscuits Company at the Emerald plant in Oxford, PA 
While many unions think international solidarity means assisting in cam-
paigns against transnational corporations, additional links with ITS-affiliates 
can also strengthen organizing campaigns even when the unions represent 
workers in different sectors and corporations, For example, when the United Farm 
Workers (UFW) called for a boycott against the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in 
Washington, the IUF called upon its Swedish union affiliates to refuse to trans-
port or sell wines imported from Chateau Ste. Michelle. The boycott was 100 
percent effective in Sweden. It lasted for seven months until the UFW achieved 
a historic neutrality agreement from Chateau St. Michelle. 
FIET and the IUF are not the only ITSs helping unions coordinate international 
campaigns: 
• The Postal, Telephone & Telegraph International (PTTI) helped coordinate 
the Sprint campaign launched by its U.S. affiliate, the Communication 
Workers of America. (For details of this landmark campaign, see "Sprint 
and the Shutdown of La Familiar" in this issue). 
• Public Services International (PSI), reached out to its affiliate in Lithuania 
and initiated a domestic and International campaign against the privati-
zation of water systems in Lithuania. (See "Privatizing Lithuania's Water," 
p. 86, for details). 
• During the UAW Caterpillar strike, the ITS for metalworkers (the Interna-
tional Metalworkers Federation) coordinated a massive sympathy strike 
among South African Caterpillar workers from the National Union of Met-
alworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), 
« When Samsung opened a new plant in Germany, the company refused to 
recognize German union's local bargaining structures (Works Councils). 
German workers received unexpected but welcome support for their strug-
gle from union members at Samsung in Korea, who took secondary action 
against the Korean electronics giant, 
CONCLUSION 
These are only a few examples of a growing number of international soli-
darity strategies. It is no surprise to see such solidarity surfacing and stirring in 
all directions - its development is necessary given the rapid globalization of the 
world economy. 
As we approach the 21st century, unions around the world are recognizing 
the need to extend their campaigns internationally by working to build and 
strengthen global union structures, such as those established by the interna-
tional trade union secretariats. 
International solidarity is not charity, nor is it limited to the unions in the 
"North" helping unions in the "South." Now we are seeing that unions in the 
South are providing a valuable contribution to the organizing and bargaining 
struggles of unions in the North. 
Not all attempts at international solidarity will end successfully, but all attempts 
are definite strides forward; the trade union movement does not march from 
victory to victory, but rather from struggle to struggle. And through mutual work, 
each struggle can bring unique experiences and new strength for the next 
struggle. • 
- D. Catherine Sanchez 
m D. Catherine Sanchez is an officer for FIET, the International Federation of Com-
mercial Clerical Professional and Technical Employees. 


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LRR Focus: Solidarity NOT Charity

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